Belgium · Tervuren
BSB is a day school in the woods east of Brussels, not in the European Quarter. English in most classrooms, a real bilingual stream if you qualify, and three leaving routes under one roof. The Board publishes 2026/27 fees each spring. Confirm the live euro table before you budget.
Dit portret staat nog in het Engels. De andere talen komen school voor school.
Curriculum zoals de school het publiceert:British-based primary and secondary · GCSE and IGCSE · A Levels · IB Diploma Programme · BTEC
Onderwijstalen:English, French-English bilingual pathway (Year 1–Year 9)
The British School of Brussels is an all-through international day school in Tervuren, in the woods east of Brussels. The address the school profile prints is Pater Dupierreuxlaan 1, 3080 Tervuren. Phone: +32 (0)2 766 04 30. Admissions: admissions@britishschool.be.
It opened in 1969. The homepage currently prints more than 1,200 students, 65+ nationalities, ages 2.5–18. The 2025–26 school profile is more precise on one day: 1,260 on roll — 450 Primary, 810 Secondary — over 70 nationalities, and about 30% of students originally from the UK. Class of 2025: 118. Maximum class size 21 in Secondary, 14 in Post-16. Treat those as the school’s own snapshots.
It is a day school. There is no boarding house. Many children arrive on a supervised bus (from age four), on Tram 44 from Montgomery, or by bike. If the posting has not found a flat, BSB will not absorb the child.
The useful questions are not “is it the British school.” The useful questions are: Do you want the English-medium path or the French-English bilingual stream? Can this child work in English, or will they need the intensive EAL classes the FAQ describes? Do you understand that everyone sits GCSE/IGCSE at 16, and that A Level, IB and BTEC only become a choice at 16? And have you opened the fees page — the Board says what you are quoted is what you pay, and that there is no building levy.
Families in Brussels and the eastern communes who want a British-based education in an international hall, with a serious French offer, and who can live within a day-school radius of Tervuren.
It is not a Belgian athénée. It is not the European Schools. Tuition is mainly in English. The profile says bilingual learning is also offered in French, with support for other mother tongues. A mother-tongue Dutch programme exists for younger students. French begins in Kindergarten from as early as age three; Dutch is introduced at age seven.
It is also a school that does not currently offer scholarships or a financial-assistance programme for new families. The FAQ says so. The Finance team will talk about specific circumstances (finance@britishschool.be). Do not budget as if a bursary is coming.
The homepage calls itself independently ranked as one of the best schools in the world, and “the leading IB school in Belgium.” We are not ranking BSB. We are describing the campus the school itself describes.
Tervuren is not Schuman. It is a Flemish commune with a royal park, a tram terminus, and a campus the profile calls state-of-the-art. The homepage and curriculum pages walk the facilities with unusual concreteness.
Sport: a 25m indoor pool — the profile says BSB is the only international school in Belgium to have its own — plus a gymnastics arena, fitness suite, dance studio, multi-purpose sports hall, bouldering wall, 5G artificial pitches, and outdoor space. Football, gymnastics and swimming are named as priority sports, with full-time professional coaches. Netball, tennis, golf and basketball compete locally and with other internationals.
Drama: a 240-seat theatre, professional lighting and sound, green room, workshop, costume department. Two full theatre productions a year, the profile says.
Music: 12 practice rooms, a music-technology suite, a recording studio.
Parents gather at Cavell House, the Families of BSB (FoBSB) building, with a café, classes for parents, and class representatives. That is often where a new family finds a Tuesday friend. Use it.
None of that tells you if your child will have a friend in week two. It does tell you this is a full campus, not a converted office block. Ask to see an ordinary classroom and the dining room, not only the pool.
Think in British years, with a 1 September–31 August birthday line. The FAQ is honest that this sometimes surprises families from other calendars. BSB places by age on that British year, because it wants peers at a similar developmental stage.
Early Childhood and Pre-Kindergarten. The homepage starts at 2.5. The FAQ says the youngest join Pre-Kindergarten; at three they join Kindergarten in Lower Primary. The fees page says the Early Childhood Centre will become Pre-Kindergarten for children aged 2.5+ from September 2027. ECC fees include hot lunch, nappies, specialist music, and the pre-school programme. We could not extract the ECC euro amounts from the official page, so we are not printing a guess.
Primary. Lower Primary through Kindergarten and the early years; Year 3 begins Upper Primary, through Year 6. The homepage describes a bespoke, skills-based, inquiry-driven primary adapted from the UK national curriculum. Hot lunch is included for Kindergarten, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. iPads or laptops are provided in Years 3–9.
The bilingual stream. This is a BSB signature, running since 2011. French-English, Year 1 to Year 9 (age four to fourteen). History, Geography and Art are taught in French; Maths and Science stay in English. Applicants need age-appropriate development in English and/or French, plus aptitude and motivation. Everyone is assessed at admissions and reassessed in Year 6 before Secondary. The homepage says ten year groups offer French-English bilingual classes. This is preparation for a bilingual IB Diploma later, not a club.
Years 7–9. A broad British-based curriculum. An additional language from Spanish, German or Dutch. The bilingual path can continue through Year 9.
Years 10–11. GCSE and IGCSE at 16. The profile and course guides: six compulsory subjects and four options; IGCSE Science Double or Single Award, taught by specialists; optional Level 2 International BTEC in Business; Year 11 Dutch can lead to CNaVT. A Pre-IB and A Level course exists for students arriving in September of Year 11: GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Single Award Science and French, plus non-examined subjects. New students are only accepted for the full (I)GCSE programme at the beginning of Year 10, the course guide says; mid-year relocation may mean a reduced exam load — ask admissions. Students need their own laptop in these years.
Years 12–13 (Post-16). Three routes under one roof: A Levels, the IB Diploma, or Level 3 International BTEC (Business, Hospitality, Sport, or combined Extended Diplomas). Some students combine A Levels with BTEC. Most A Level/BTEC students also do an EPQ. The expectation is three A Levels or Level 3 BTECs over two years; a small number begin four. No stand-alone AS Levels. Bilingual IB Diplomas exist in French-English or Dutch-English. Some students in Years 10–13 sit DELF B1 or B2. All students need to start in September of Year 12; the course guide is blunt that these are two-year courses.
Progression into Year 13: IB students must be on track to meet Diploma passing criteria; A Level students need at least E in each subject. BTEC is continual assessment.
The academic year is three terms: late August or early September to mid-December; early January to late March or early April; late April to late June or early July.
English is the medium for most of the school. French is either a subject from Kindergarten or, in the bilingual stream, a medium of instruction.
EAL is not a barrier to joining. The FAQ says intensive immersive classes can sit beside the regular timetable until a child is up to the required level. Ask what “required” means for this year group.
Home languages not on the timetable may be possible as self-study at GCSE, A Level or IB, case by case.
The bilingual stream is selective in the ordinary sense: assessment at entry and again at Year 6. It is not automatic because you live in Brussels.
Enquiry, then a tour (in person or virtual), then an online application with previous reports and relevant documents. Next steps may include a short assessment or informal conversation, depending on age. An offer and a contract secure the place.
BSB welcomes mid-year joiners. If the relocation date is still soft — common for diplomatic, military and corporate families — the FAQ says you can start the conversation and, where appropriate, hold a provisional place.
Year groups follow the British birthday line. The Post-16 guide prints a date-of-birth chart; use that, not a friend’s memory of a US grade.
Additional educational needs support exists for learning differences, processing or attention difficulties, and for high-achieving students who need extension. More intensive support may cost extra. Bring the current reports to the first meeting.
There is no scholarship programme for applicants.
The Board reviews fees each year and publishes them in spring for the next academic year. Fees are invoiced annually and payable in a single payment each May. The school says there are no hidden campus fees or development levies, and that it does not intend to apply a building levy. Parents remain liable even if an employer is late.
Application fee, 2026/27, from the fees page: €750 once per child, non-refundable, payable by card after the form. A second official page, the payment form, still lists a different main-school scale (€1,000 first child, €500 each subsequent; ECC €250 / €125; returning students, siblings and ECC-to-main €500). Confirm with admissions which scale applies to your application. We are not choosing between two official pages.
Annual tuition 2026/27 is published on the fees page under the heading “Annual school fees – 2026-2027.” The euro amounts sit in a table or graphic that we could not extract from the official HTML. We are not inventing those figures. Open the fees page and budget from what the Board printed.
What tuition includes, from the same page and the FAQ:
Not included: Garderie; individual instrumental tuition and instrument rental; extra PE clothing; residential sporting and other competitions; Years 10–13 trips; activities run by external providers; other course-related items. Bus fees are listed as a separate line on the fees page; we could not extract the euro amounts.
Garderie (after-school care for primary) is extra. Secondary students may stay for supervised homework at no extra cost.
Mid-year joiners get a reduction set out on the fees page. Withdrawal needs a full academic term’s written notice to the Principal; miss that and you are invoiced a term in lieu. Refunds for early leaving only follow that notice rule.
This Fee Schedule, the school says, cancels all previous schedules and may be amended.
The 2025–26 profile and the homepage publish recent public-exam lines. These are the school talking about itself.
IB Diploma average total points: 36 (2025), 35 (2024), 35 (2023). Highest 2025: 42. Share at 30 or higher in 2025: 93%.
A Level 2025: A*-A 35%, A*-B 66%, A*-C 86%, A*-E 96%. Homepage: 99% pass in A Level and BTEC; IB average 36.
(I)GCSE 2025: A*-A / 9–7 52%, A*-C / 9–4 90%.
BTEC Level 3, Distinction or higher: 60% (2024), 59% (2023), 46% (2022).
University lists in the profile are long — KU Leuven, Maastricht, Exeter, Edinburgh, UCL, Delft, IE, Bocconi, and others. Virtually all recent graduates, the profile says, went on to higher education. We are not treating that list as your child’s offer.
BSB does not class-rank or calculate a GPA. It reports mid-year and end-of-year grades in Years 12 and 13.
Ask where a January arrival sits at lunch in week one. Ask whether this child is being assessed for the bilingual stream, and what Year 6 reassessment means if you might leave before then. Ask how EAL would look in this year group. Ask how many Year 12s are on IB versus A Level versus BTEC this September. Ask which bus route serves your street, and what it costs on the live fees page. Ask what a term’s notice looks like on this year’s calendar. Ask to see Year 5 and Year 10, not only the pool and the theatre.
If you might later want a Belgian or Dutch-medium path, ask that question twice. BSB is a British-based international school in Flanders, not a communal school.
We are not saying BSB is the best school in Brussels. We are not guessing a waitlist. We are not inventing the 2026/27 tuition table; it is on the official fees page and we could not read the euro amounts from the HTML. We are not inventing bus or Garderie prices.
Read the current fees page and write to admissions before you resign a flat in another country. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Officiële pagina’s en documenten die we lazen. Als een bedrag telt voor budget of aanmelding, open de link en check of die nog klopt.
Vriendelijke oriëntatie, geen aanmelding. Data, tarieven en programma’s schuiven. Check alles bij de school.
Brussels is not one international campus. It is a European School system with categories, and two fee-paying woods that share an eastern forest and almost no Monday. Name who pays before you time the ring.
15 minDe letters op het diploma doen ertoe. Ze zijn niet het hele kind. Hier hoe je ze uit elkaar houdt zonder hoofdpijn, en zonder te doen alsof elke deur openblijft.
16 minJe hebt geen perfect algoritme nodig. Wel een paar ware dingen over je kind, een saai lijstje op de koelkast, en de moed om een mooie campus te negeren die niet past.
15 minHet schoolgeld is het getal op de homepage. De pdf is het getal dat in maart binnenkomt. Hier lees je hoe je de tweede leest, zonder een euro, een kroon of een deadline te verzinnen.